Rece Davis takes under 2.5 SEC coaches fired in 2025

Last month, USA Today released its SEC football coaching hot seat rankings featuring several coaches across the conference. But how many will ultimately be looking for their next coaching gig by January?

Rece Davis, the host of ESPN College GameDay, sat down with ESPN Senior Writer Dan Wetzel to discuss the matter. The bar was set at over/under 2.5 head coaches being fired. Davis’ answer may surprise you.

“Maybe I’m just the eternal optimist. Maybe I’m too nice about this — I’ll take the under on that,” Davis said on the College GameDay Podcast.

The USA Today list included coaches such as Hugh Freeze (Auburn), Brent Venables (Oklahoma), Billy Napier (Florida), as well as Mark Stoops (Kentucky) and Sam Pittman (Arkansas). Davis focused on the latter two head coaches.

“Mark Stoops, he’s the dean of SEC coaches,” Davis said. “His success at Kentucky, in terms of sustained success, well, last year was disappointing, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s unprecedented in terms of being solid. You’re going to change that?

“And I think Sam Pittman has fit very well in Arkansas. Do they need to win a few more games? Yeah, probably. But they had a winning record a year ago. Kind of looking at their schedule … It’s a pretty tough schedule there. Get off to a good start. Hopefully we’ll take the under there.”

Pittman led Arkansas to a 4-8 season in 2023, and Stoops did the same at Kentucky in 2024. That was the worst mark for Pittman since his first season in 2017. Kentucky’s four-win season snapped an eight-year bowl streak for the Wildcats under Stoops — a program record.

Arkansas answered its four-win season with a 7-6 final record in 2024, including a victory in the Liberty Bowl to end the year. Arkansas is looking to build on its seven-win season this fall. Meanwhile, the Wildcats are in the same position the Razorbacks were one year ago. Motivated has been the keyword around Lexington all offseason — we’ll see if it pays off.

Elsewhere in the SEC, it’s clear that 2025 is a pivotal season for both Auburn and Oklahoma. Both programs have rich traditions, and did not lived up to those standards last fall.

For Florida’s Billy Napier, his Gators may be on the uptick with sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway under center as the main QB1 this fall. The expectations for Napier’s program this fall may be higher than any other coach on that list — and his team is expected to live up to them.